


Orange and Cream

by Agraulis_vanillae



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Crushes, Dating, Edgepuff, Fluff, M/M, Papyrus - Freeform, Papyrus-centric, Sans - Freeform, Scents & Smells, Swapfell Papyrus - Freeform, Swapfell Sans, The Dating Hub, The bros lives in the same house, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Underfell Papyrus, Underfell Sans, Underswap Papyrus, Underswap Sans, dating 101
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-11-07 12:51:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11059350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Agraulis_vanillae/pseuds/Agraulis_vanillae
Summary: Papyrus and Edge starts crushing, but one doesn't notice a thing and the other doesn't want to admit to a thing.





	Orange and Cream

There were a number of changes to adjust to when their interdimensional clones moved in, but the first change to the house Papyrus noticed  was the number of beauty products that showed up in their shower that following morning. There was a whole array of half used bars of soap that was  scattered haphazardly on the sink and he’d bagged most of them to throw in Sans’s half empty cabinet. His honey and cream body wash in the shower was joined by at least three others, all of which varied dramatically. He’d done his best to ignore this, but after about three days his curiosity got the best of him.

 

He’d first popped open a bottle during the following morning and smelled a vaguely fruity although it was accompanied with a heavy perfume of flowers- Black’s body wash? He turned it over to find it was from a popular lingerie store, how scandalous! He put it back, and then opened another to sniff at. The bottle was a dark amber colored, half filled with a translucent liquid that exuded the sharp scent of citrus peel and ginger. He paused, and smelled it again, not certain who’s this one was and opted to move on to the last bottle. It smelled like acai and blueberries.

 

Having recalled the same smell on Blue last time he hugged him, Papyrus ignored it in favor of sniffing the ginger and citrus again. Spicy and tangy all at once, he debated internally before he compromised and squeezed out less than a dime’s worth of body wash onto the tips of his phalanges and rubbed his hands together to a lather. Almost instantly, the bathroom steam took on a warm spicy scent that engulfed the vanilla-like creaminess of the previous soap that Papyrus used, and in it he recognized the faint scent of Edge though it was still more concentrated that lacked an underlying complexity which explained why he hadn’t recognized it at first.

 

He closed the lid slowly, almost reluctantly, and stood in the shower rubbing his forearms and vertebra until the scent faded to obscurity.

 

“hey papy, how much longer are ya gonna be?” Slim called through the door. “I have to get to work in half an hour.”

 

“AH, I’M ALMOST DONE!” Papyrus shouted back, grabbing a towel and his dry scarf and running out of the bathroom while Slim wolf-whistled, chuckling at the water sloughing off of his battle body.

 

~

 

When Papyrus, Blue, Black, and Edge were all training together at some point that day, Papyrus froze when Edge stomped over to adjust the way he was throwing a bone attack. Edge was cocking his elbow a few degrees and gruffly lecturing. The scent washed over him, and the thought occurring to him that the body wash was transformed when Edge was using it, taking on a almost cologne-like quality.

 

He pressed closer to him almost on instinct, and it seemed like his magic hummed in satisfaction as the pressure of Edge’s ribcage to his back remained, Edge remaining close to him during the explanation.

 

The next time Papyrus went to shower, he wasn’t bold enough to squeeze the body wash out and risk getting caught by using it but he did pop open the lid to smell it again. No, the scent really wasn’t the same in the bottle as when Edge used it. 

 

He spent the next few weeks observing specific differences, taking any available opportunities to get close to Edge, idly wondering at the effect. The soap didn’t smell as warm as Edge did, but the spicy citrus extract was much stronger in the bottle than when it was lingering on Edge throughout the day, somehow working into Edge’s own scent seamlessly and only weeks later after he’d long ran out of anything novel to analyze about the matter did he realize that he was still sitting close to Edge at every opportunity.

 

It wasn’t like he imagined what it’d be like to get closer or anything like that.

 

Meanwhile Papyrus’s new habit hadn’t gone unnoticed by Edge, who started getting more and more nervous, wondering why his alternative was always drawing so close. The first time he’d shifted further into Edge’s arms as he adjusted his fighting stance, molding into the position almost perfectly, Edge had froze without any idea why. He could’ve sworn his soul was pounding through his chest hard enough for Papyrus to notice, and the thought was enough to make him step away finally and cough,

  
“YES SO THAT’S THE PROPER WAY TO PUT A SPIN ON A BONE ATTACK.”

 

From then on, he was hyper aware of Papyrus every time he brushed against him. Training? If Blue and Black had them on the defensive in a team exercise, Papyrus was always pressed against his back causing Edge’s skull to buzz with an unfamiliar burst of nerves and exaltation at once. Papyrus once fell asleep on the couch after a clo-pening double shift at his work while they were watching a MTT2 special on TV with both of their world’s Mettatons running the show, head cradled against his shoulder. Edge could tolerate that feeling humming in his bones but the second Papyrus nuzzled him with a deep sigh that sounded like contentment, still asleep, he was off the couch like a shot earning a startled look from Red.

 

Then his gold toothed brother looked at Papyrus who’d fallen over in a sleepy bundle of bones and blanket, jostled awake and equally confused at what was going on, and then back to Edge with his hectic flush and breathing heavily from jumping off the couch in his flustered panic. Red’s expression evolved into something much scarier- gleeful comprehension.

 

From then on out, Edge couldn’t get away from Red’s teasing when they were alone nor Papyrus now that Red sent the innocent skeleton to go help him no matter what he was doing. The pointed nudges of encouragement was so much worse than any jape or practical joke he could pull. Even grocery trips were no longer sweat free, as every time Red learned he was about to go out for lasagna ingredients, he sent Papyrus along with.

 

He could see Papyrus’s empty hand as he pushed the shopping cart along, the swaying movement drawing his eyes as well as his mind. He could hold his hand… but no!!! Who holds hands?!! It’s not like they were stupid little babybones that didn’t know any better than to wander into the hungry maw of danger, even if Papyrus looked kinda cute with one hand propped on his hip as he considered the unit price on brands of noodles. Disturbed by this, he’d be so involved with fighting the impulse with point by point, that by the time he’d reluctantly strategized an excuse to reach for Papyrus’s hand, they were already arriving back home in the convertible and Papyrus was leaving the vehicle as well as leaving Edge shrieking internally.

 

“EDGE? ARE YOU OKAY? YOU’RE HOLDING THE STEERING WHEEL AWFULLY TIGHTLY.”

 

“ARGH!!” It’s not like he climbed over the seats in a scramble to get away from Papyrus’s face leaning in too close or anything, he just really wanted to grab those groceries before Papyrus tried to carry them all in by himself. “I’M FINE?! JUST LET ME GRAB THE JUGS OF MILK BEFORE YOU STRAIN YOUR FEEBLE BONES ON THE COMBINED WEIGHT!”

 

Really, he was too gallant. He ought to thank him with a kiss or-

 

BETRAYAL!!! He screamed to his sub-conscious, aghast at the shift in his thoughts. Since when did he want anything more than to see what it’d be like to hold his hand? Papyrus made a face at the response. “I’M PRETTY SURE I CAN CARRY THOSE BY MYSELF, EDGE. ESPECIALLY IF YOU CAN, SEEING THAT YOU’RE ALSO ME.”

 

The gig was up! Retreat! Edge dashed away without seeing the puzzled look of hurt flash across Papyrus’s face.

 

~

 

Papyrus was almost certain that there had to be something up with everyone, as they were pushing him and Edge to do everything together. Edge on the other hand was pushing him away, and he was getting increasingly confused what to do. Papyrus wanted to tell him how nice he thought he smelled, but rather than breaking this awkward cycle by making it more awkward with a heavy dose of ‘Tee-Em-I’ as the cool kids on the internet like to say, he tried to talk to him at one point when he noticed they were left alone for the umpteenth time.

 

“SO... YOU SEEM TO FIND YOURSELF ALONE WITH MYSELF INEXPLICABLY SO OFTEN, IT MUST BE STATISTICALLY IMPROBABLE FOR THIS TO BE A COINCIDENCE AND YET HERE WE ARE! FUNNY THING, THOSE COWINKY-DINKS! NYEH HEH…” He gave a short awkward laugh. Shoot, this was supposed to avoid being weird and uncomfortable, so how is he feeling even weirder and more uncomfortable talking about it?!

 

“I’M LEAVING.” Edge got up immediately.

 

Papyrus leapt to his feet in a panic, grabbing his forearm. “WAIT, WHY ARE YOU LEAVING?”

 

“WHY ARE YOU TOUCHING ME?! YOU- YOU!!! ODDLY CUDDLY ODDBALL!! YOU!!!” Edge raged back, pulling out of his touch albeit reluctantly to confront this ridiculous clone of his that he just couldn’t get away from.

 

“W-WHY?!! OH UH…” Papyrus had no contingency plan to avoid telling the truth if asked point blank like this. Still, to say it out loud… Papyrus flushed and squirmed, feeling a bit put on the spot.

 

Prickling almost perceptibly in dismay at the unexpectedly shy reaction to his accusation, Edge shouted, “NO STOP ACTING LIKE THAT! DON’T GIVE ME THAT LOOK!?!”

 

“WHAT LOOK?!” Papyrus was now blushing harder, panicking as well.

 

“LIKE YOU’RE ASKING SOMEONE ON A DATE??! I KNOW THAT MY GREAT AND TERRIBLE COUNTENANCE IS VERY COOL BUT I AM A SKELETON WITH VERY HIGH STANDARDS, AND IT’S NOT LIKE JUST ANYONE CAN MEET THOSE STANDARDS.” Edge crossed his arms defensively and glanced aside, unable to meet his eyes when he made that boast. 

 

Oh no!! What could those standards possibly be?! There’s no telling what someone who was himself in a different universe might’ve thought up, especially as he made into the Royal Guard there. He had to deflect to avoid Edge thinking that he doubted that he could live up to his standards or else he might agree and just leave him here… thinking about... how he lacked any redeeming qualities.

 

Shaking his head, he diverted his attention back to Edge to quickly dispel the notion like mist in Snowdin Forest. “THERE’S NO NEED TO LIE TO YOURSELF EDGE!”

 

“W-WHAT?!? YOU WEIRDO! I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU’RE GOING ON ABOUT!??” Edge backed away nervously and Papyrus advanced subconsciously, following him.

 

“YOUR BARBS HIDE A HIDDEN AFFECTION!” Papyrus pointed forcefully into Edge’s chest, his boot heels offering only a inch or two on him. “YOU EMOTIONAL CACTUS!”

 

“NUH UH!!! YOU STUPIDLY SOFT WARM CREAMPUFF!”

 

“SPICY SMELLING MEANIE!”

 

Edge pushed him back, and with an unexpected click, they were pulled into…

 

…The Dating Hub?! An egg watch was in the corner, next to radar detecting the Annoying Dog teleporting all over the place, the population was zigzagging along with the glow of the crime emanating throughout the city. It was a clear Wednesday night, and the reel-it-in meter weakly oscillating back and forth. The Dating Bar already had already progressed to more than halfway, and Papyrus nearly jumped out of the window right there in mortification at the unexpected development.

 

“WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?!” Edge was visibly taken aback. Papyrus blinked, his embarrassment melting away in his surprise at Edge.

 

“HAVE YOU NEVER GONE ON A DATE BEFORE?” He asked slowly, processing this.

 

“N-NO!!! I TOLD YOU, MY STANDARDS ARE VERY HIGH. IT’S NOT LIKE NO ONE’S ASKED ME BEFORE?!” Edge was sweating as if this was a interrogation, defensively crossing his arms once more. 

 

Papyrus admitted, “THAT’S OKAY, FRISK ACTIVATED THE DATING HUB BUT THE DATE ENDED QUITE AWKWARDLY WITH THE HUMAN FALLING HEAD OVER HEELS WITH I UNABLE TO RETURN THEIR AFFECTIONS. IT WAS QUITE SADDENING BUT WE’VE MANAGED TO REMAIN FRIENDS SINCE THEN!”

 

“Y-YOU’VE GONE ON A DATE WITH FRISK?!!” Edge choked out. 

 

“WELL, YES. THEY TRIED TO HOLD MY HAND AND EVERYTHING.” Papyrus mentioned, scratching his skull bashfully. 

 

Edge’s face colored, and his arms tightened around his chest, mumbling almost inaudibly “SO THEN IF THE DATING HUB IS UP…” He trailed off, a far off look to his eyelights momentarily before he snapped back with determination in his eyelights. “SHOW ME HOW THE DATING HUB WORKS.”

 

Papyrus felt his soul flip and seize up. “YOU WANT TO DATE?”

 

“DON’T GET ME WRONG, IT’S ONLY SO THAT I CAN BE AT MY VERY BEST FOR A REAL DATE!” Edge finally uncrossed his arms, eyeing him calculatingly. “SO WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO PROGRESS TO HOLDING HANDS?”

 

“WELL, WITH FRISK WE WENT TO MY FAVORITE PLACE AND WORE DATING CLOTHES.” Papyrus placed a finger to the side of his jaw in thought. “BUT WE’RE ALREADY HERE, SO I GUESS WE JUST NEED TO CHANGE CLOTHES.”

 

Edge quickly went up to his shared bedroom with Red and slammed the door shut before he finished talking. In the moment that Papyrus looked unbelievingly, silence for a moment before Red’s muffled voice sounded in amusement. He didn’t catch much of the exchange, but he thought he heard a bone pun.

 

Then a breaking window was heard, and Edge came down from the stairs with a dark aura and his eye spasming in annoyance. He’d thrown on a spiked leather jacket that ended just about mid-chest, a shirt that used to say ‘Guns N Roses’ only for ‘Guns’ to be crossed out and replaced with ‘Bones’, skinny leather jeans with three belts layered over his hips, studded fingerless gloves, and steel toed boots with even greater height added to the heel. “LET’S GO SOMEWHERE ELSE BEFORE RED ASKS TO BE THROWN OFF A CLIFF INSTEAD OF SIMPLY THE BALCONY.”

 

Concerned, Papyrus tried asking, “IS HE GOING TO BE OKAY-”

 

“PLEASE HE TOOK A SHORTCUT BACK INTO OUR ROOM BEFORE HE EVEN HIT THE GROUND.” He growled as if Red was being inconsiderate by rendering his attack totally ineffective.

 

“O-OKAY! LET ME GET INTO MY DATING CLOTHES...”

 

~

 

He did NOT have a boner for his idiot counterpart, Edge fumed as he followed Papyrus to god knows where. He also didn’t have a crush, or anything dumb like that as Swap insinuated in earshot when he was talking to his brother on a smoke break outside the house one day. He didn’t know why everyone in the house insisted on acting like he  _ wanted _ to spend so much time with Papyrus. It’s not like they could talk about marinara recipes for hours at a time, or test the difficulty level of newly constructed puzzles on each other, or watch the same programming over and over to the point where they have inside jokes that no one else understood, or that Papyrus met any of his standards let alone  _ all of them _ . 

 

He definitely wasn’t jealous that Frisk already held his hand once!

 

Not.

 

One.

 

Iota.

 

He was so caught up in his big internal ‘NOPE’ that he hadn’t actually realized where Papyrus led him until they were walking through the door and Papyrus was getting two tickets. “WAIT, WHERE..?”

 

“OH, DID YOU WANT TO GO SOMEWHERE ELSE? THE MUSEUM HERE HAD A CANDY EXHIBIT THIS WEEKEND SO I THOUGHT THIS WOULD BE A GOOD PLACE TO PRACTICE A FIRST DATE!” Papyrus turned to him, offering the tickets with wide hopeful eyes. “WHAT DO YOU THINK?”

 

“THAT SOUNDS…” Edge couldn’t quite bring himself to say babyish, not to that face Papyrus was making at him. “... OKAY?!”

 

And then Papyrus was pulling him along, trading their tickets for stubs at the exhibit entrance while Edge contemplated this frightful effect Papyrus had on his cool haughty demeanor. They looked at the large tongue on the wall, the diagram pointing out different places on the human tongue where they tasted different flavors. After a few minutes of this though, Papyrus stopped in place, blanching suddenly so that the excited look in his face bled away.

 

“WHAT IS IT?” Edge asked him, confused why he suddenly stopped on the way to the kid’s craft table.

 

Papyrus looked a little bit like deer caught in headlights. “OH! UH… THIS IS KINDA EMBARRASSING, BUT I MIGHT’VE… FORGOT TO BRING A GIFT?!! SHOOT, HOW AM I GOING TO SHOW YOU HOW TO GO ON THE PERFECT DATE IF I DON’T HAVE A GIFT?!”

 

As Papyrus was lamenting, Edge backed away slightly, to no degree experienced in consoling an upset monster let alone a upset pretend-date. Movement caught his eye when some kids in the museum dashed across the open floor, past the heavy industrial machinery used to process sugar and to a stand ran by a harried looking cat monster that reminded him vaguely of someone in his world.

 

“H-heh-woh this is the candy bwooth wight?” The human kid spoke through a heavy lisp. We wanna make strawbewwy fwavor!” The water elemental monster child next to them nodded rapidly.

 

Without thinking, Edge grabbed Papyrus who’d been close to blubbering in that time, and pulled him along. So determined to distract him, he’d only realized half a moment later when he felt the warmth of Papyrus’s hand radiating through his fingerless glove that he’d finally grabbed his hand. Embarrassment made his face light up, but there was no way he could freak about it now.

 

“WHAT IS THIS?” Papyrus asked, wiping away the tears that had threatened to form. “THE SALTWATER TAFFY STAND?”

 

“YOU DIDN’T FORGET TO BRING A GIFT, YOU WERE PLANNING ON GETTING ONE FROM HERE RIGHT? THAT’S WHY WE’RE AT THE CANDY EXHIBIT.” Edge offered the out, and Papyrus’s jaw moved speechlessly for a few moments. A bar that Edge had seen oscillating at different points in proximity near them had gone from plummeting to almost full. Papyrus hadn’t explained what it was measuring to him yet, but he assumed this was good.

 

“NYEH… OF COURSE! THAT WAS MY PLAN ALL ALONG! NYEH HEH HEH!” Papyrus laughed, gratefully taking the out. “EXCUSE ME BURGERPANTS, DO YOU HAVE SPAGHETTI FLAVOR?”

 

“What?!! No!” The cat rejected impulsively, lips scrunching up and eyes pushing close with the force of his repulsed expression before he went entirely blank. “I-I mean… WELCOME TO THE TAFFY BOOTH WHERE WE HAVE ALL SORTS OF TAFFY FLAVORS YOU CAN MAKE! Butfruitflavorsonlysowillyoupleasejustpickbananalikeeveryoneelseandgoaway?”

 

“OH IN THAT CASE, WE’LL… WELL, IT’S A GIFT FOR YOU EDGE! SO WHAT DO YOU WANT?” Papyrus turned to him, swinging their locked hands a little and causing Edge’s flush to return with a vengeance.

 

“I-UH… ORANGE?” Edge blurted out, his gaze locking on Papyrus’s basketball shoulder pads.

 

“OKIE DOKE! One orange flavor coming up, will that be all?” The cat monster was grinning manically, relief palpably oozing out of him.

 

Papyrus squinted at the menu. “DO YOU HAVE MILK FLAVORED TAFFY?”

 

“We have vanilla.” The cat told him flatly, clearly already done with Papyrus’s requests.

 

~

 

After the neurotic cat at the stand showed them how to make the candy, he sent them on their way with a small sample of what they were making and bags of pre-wrapped orange and cream flavored taffy. Papyrus was so relieved that the fake-date wasn’t ruined, but truth be told despite the close call he didn’t want it to end either. He glanced shyly at his super cool alternate self, reading the exhibit signs with a contemplative expression.

 

He’d been the one to hold his hand, and was surprisingly considerate about letting him take credit for the saltwater taffy idea. He was supposed to be showing him how to go on a date, but Edge had taken the most logical steps about date progression without even needing an explanation! Was there really anything he could show him that he didn’t already know? He cast his gaze away, trying to think of something as they left through the exit of the candy exhibit. Papyrus accidentally met the gaze of a blue bunny monster, who perked up.

 

“Oh hi there! Do you want a nice cream float?”

 

He looked so earnest, that Papyrus tugged on Edge’s hand. “LET’S GET SOME NICE CREAM.”

 

The nice cream floats that the nice cream guy gave them had two straws, but as Edge tried to pinch off the paper that the nice cream guy dutifully left on the top, the rest of the straw bobbed up with it and tipped over and out of the drink! They both looked at the straw on the ground, Papyrus automatically picking it up and looking at how dirty it was. “OH… WELL THAT’S OKAY! YOU CAN USE MINE.”

 

They sat on the picnic bench outside the museum and looked at the drinks set between the two of them, with one straw. Papyrus made the motion for him to go first, and Edge cleared his throat, “RIGHT, WELL, THANK YOU. I GUESS.”

 

Papyrus then moved in, and grasped the straw lightly between his teeth. Only a light wetness from Edge’s saliva remained, orange candy flavor mixing with melted ice cream and soda. Was this… what a kiss would be like? Papyrus finished gulping the fluid down and offered the drink to Edge again. They shared the drinks in silence, a slight reddening flush flaring up on Edge’s cheekbones and Papyrus feeling like his soul was going to beat out of his chest. The dating bar had long broken and was hanging ajar, the fact of which was steadfastly ignored by both of them although several human passerby stopped to gawk at the Dating Hub going haywire.

 

They walked home, and at the door, Papyrus nearly waved bye to Edge only to color slightly as he realized, “OH RIGHT, WE LIVE IN THE SAME HOUSE.” He cleared his throat, scuffing the welcome mat with his boot. “SO, DATE ENDS WITH A KISS BUT..?”

 

The Dating Hub faded away and they stood there, Papyrus looking up at Edge who hadn’t moved a inch. He looked like he wanted to say something, raising a hand, and then lowering it, mouth moving but no sound coming out. Then he turned and ran around the house, the sounds of yet another window breaking for the second time that day and Swap’s startled yelp.

 

Papyrus walked through the door to see Swap vaulted to the side and clutching at his chest like he was about to have a heart attack. “DID HE JUST..?”

 

“break the window and run up to his room like a human was after him? yes.” Swap finished for him, relaxing once more with a short perplexed laugh. Papyrus went upstairs to his bedroom and jumped onto his bed, burying his face into his pillow and thinking how close sharing the straw was to kissing Edge.

 

In the bedroom across the hall, Edge was screaming into his own pillow and thinking about how close he’d gotten to kissing Papyrus.

**Author's Note:**

> *screams from the bottom of my soul* I LOVE EDGEPUFF!!!! Haha seriously there's so much I could do, but since I'm publishing this little oneshot on my birthday, I decided I wanted the purest of pure fluff, the kind that'll give you emotional diabetes. I hope I did well! If you want to follow, my tumblr is:  
> https://agraulisvanillae.tumblr.com/  
> Thanks for reading! See ya next time. ^_^


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